CORNWALL COUNCIL -- FIRST FEW DAYS!

Monday and Tuesday, 8th and 9th May 2017 were induction days at Lys Kernow (County Hall) for newly elected councillors, with a mind-spinning round of lectures and presentations on what the council is, what our roles are, how it all works, plus reams of paperwork, signing up for training sessions, photographs for the website and ID cards, and getting to know people.
 

Afternoons were opportunities for councillors to meet in their political party groups, (I say "Councillors" as that is the common term, but apparently we are "Divisional Members" in council-speak.)
 

Obviously, political parties such as Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Labour, Mebyon Kernow, Greens etc are true political parties but what about Independents like me? I have never been in a political party and have changed my votes depending on the election and the state of the country at the time. I have also usually supported Independent candidates in local elections.

The Independents have traditionally formed an "Independent Group" a banding together for mutual support, advice, and to avoid being brushed aside by the political parties. I have signed up to the Independent Group, and listened intently to their debates.

The "Big Issue" is that no political party has overall control of the council, there are 123 councillors, so to hold overall control and be confident of winning debates in council, a party needs at least 62 councillors.

Conservatives have the most with 46, Liberal Democrats next with 37, and Independents third with 30. (Labour 4, MK 4, Labour and Cooperative party 1)

There are intense discussions ongoing about whether any parties and groups will work with others to form an administration for the council, if Independents came to an agreement with Conservatives or Lib Dems, there would be a possibility of forming some form of joint administration, so are in a good position, however rumours abound but there is no firm news at the time of writing!

Locally in Hayle there is an informal meeting this week for old and new town councillors to meet and decide who wants to do which jobs and roles in the council. Remember there are three vacancies for the council which we will need to co-opt people for (unless enough people in town wish to force another election!)

Watch this space, I hope to continue letting people know what's going on in Hayle local politics!

Graham.

Hayle Supermarket Wars and ASDA on South Quay.

How ASDA ended up on South Quay, Hayle.

As Mayor, and a Hayle Town Councillor for the last seven years, and active on Social Media I am becoming aware that many people did not follow the developments of the "Supermarket Battles" or the recent history of South Quay and Hayle Harbour, and don't understand how an ASDA ended up being built on SouthQuay, Hayle.

I recently posted an explanation on Facebook which has received some praise, so I will re-post it here to help people understand.

 The Harbour came into the possession of ING around 2004, and amongst the various plans and proposals, South Quay renovation was starting to look like being the last phase of the overall development.

Suddenly supermarkets took an interest in Hayle, because of its position on the road network and its potential catchment area. Morrisons wanted the Jewson’s site at Carnsew, Sainsbury wanted to build on Loggans Moor nature reserve and marsh, and ASDA wanted to build on the Rugby Club. All of these wanted to come to Hayle, but the Penwith Retail study of 2007, (and the later Cornwall Retail Study 2010) which was evidence the planners are obliged to rely on said there WAS scope for an additional supermarket in Hayle, but ONLY ONE.

This made it a “Battle of the supermarkets” but then ING joined in by proposing their South Quay site for a supermarket development, without any supermarket brand being signed up.

ING’s advisors had learned something that the local councillors, and people interested in planning were to discover. Sequential Tests.

These were and are strong parts of government guidelines on planning, and serve to ensure development is in the best, or least harmful sites.

The Retail Sequential Test stated that a supermarket development site closest to an existing shopping centre is the preferred option as it enable footfall to the supermarket to be close to existing shops so they have a chance to compete for the new potential customers. (This put South Quay in the lead.)

The Flooding Sequential Test meant that sites least likely to be flooded or most easily protected against flooding are preferred sites (This effectively knocked Sainsbury out)

The two proposals, ASDA and Sainsbury both on Marsh Lane, also had largely unresolved Traffic and Transport issues with the already overloaded roundabout at Loggans Moor/Carwin.

These were the planning issues and policies that set ING’s South Quay as the Number One preferred site for a supermarket development.

Added to that were the additional “Planning Gains” for the South Quay site of ING having to carry out the highly expensive repairs to South Quay and Carnsew Quay, exposing and excavating Carnsew Dock and the Carnsew Sluice, replacing the sluice gates and repairing the sluice tunnels (“Black Houses”) so a sluicing regime could be restarted, making contributions to road improvements around Hayle, contributing to the new railway station approach, building a bridge from its supermarket to Penpol Terrace shops, and new routes through ISIS Gardens to Foundry, public promenade all around South Quay and public entertainment and recreation areas.
The final benefit was ING’s offer to hand ownership and control of the harbour over to a Hayle body.|

The South Quay supermarket planning application was the clear winner on planning grounds.

Originally ING were negotiating with Sainsbury, but they dropped out when they got the Penzance Heliport site, then ASDA switched from supporting the Rugby Club site and came to South Quay.

Graham.

HAYLE NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN FIRST SURVEY

This is to start people finding out about Hayle Neighbourhood Plan and a request for people to fill in a simple short introductory survey to get us started.

Say what you love about Hayle and what you wish could change in this very short survey.

(Hayle Neighbourhood Plan website and then the surveys tab or just link here http://np.hayle.net/surveys/ ). Please complete it before July 22nd 2014 to get your voice heard.
Information about the neighbourhood plan is on the website and you may also like to participate through the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/hayleneighbourhoodplan .
You can do the survey if you live in Hayle, work in Hayle, visit Hayle, come from Hayle, want to return to Hayle, (making sure there is affordable housing and/ or affordable land to build houses is something the Hayle Neighbourhood Plan can make happen!).
http://np.hayle.net/

(Stolen and reproduced from Lucy Frears, unashamedly copied here! Graham Coad.)

HAYLE RETAIL DEVELOPMENT APPLICATIONS MEETING POSTPONED

HAYLE RETAIL DEVELOPMENT APPLICATIONS MEETING POSTPONED

This morning the Clerk met with Jeremy Content, CC planning officer, and in conjunction with the Mayor, they have agreed to postpone the meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening. There are several reasons for this.

We are at a point where we have no definitive response from Cornwall Highways or the Highway Agency, who are waiting for the updated retail information especially related to trip patterns. We are also waiting for a response from GVA regarding the additional survey that has been conducted further to the 2010 Cornwall Retail Study. If they, GVA, are satisfied that the 2010 figures remain robust then the Highways people will have confidence the highways model work that has been carried out and therefore will be in a position to make a recommendation. Jeremy has also confirmed that the Highways Agency has now placed 'holding directions' on both applications, so no decision can be made until these are lifted and they are satisfied that they have the right information to respond.

Jeremy's best, optimistic, guess is that this information will be available by the end of May. A meeting will be reconvened, when and only when all of the information is in.

It would be appreciated if you could help by spreading the word too.